Get to Know Your Panthers: S Gerald Alexander

by Jaxon on Nov 26, 2010 1:00 AM EST in Panther Player & Position Reviews

You may recall the Panthers signed S Gerald Alexander earlier this week after both back-up safeties Jordan Pugh and Marcus Hudson were injured against the Ravens.Alexander is a 4th year player, 26, 6'2" 209 lbs.

Here's the basics on Alexander's history in the NFL:

He was selected from Boise State in the 2nd round of the 2007 NFL Draft as the 61st overall selection. He was one of the players who helped lead Boise State to their improbable Fiesta Bowl win over Oklahoma.

Gerald played all 16 games of his rookie season when safety Daniel Bullocks suffered a season-ending knee injury during a preseason game against the Indianapolis Colts. During that 2007 season Gerald recorded 81 tackles, 59 solo and 22 assisted. He also had 2 sacks, interceptions and fumble recoveries.

On June 26th 2009. He was traded to the Jacksonville Jaguars, for Dennis Northcutt.

He played 3 games for the Jags this season before getting cut. I put up a post over at Big Cat Country to get some feedback on why he was released. I've pasted the choice comments after the jump.

Overall, he’s a run of the mill NFL safety. He’s better as pass coverage than he is at run stopping, but he’s not great at either.

He was penciled in as one of the Jaguars starting safeties, but was cut after a terrible preseason, brought back, and cut again. He’s certainly not Reggie Nelson, so he has that going for him.

I don’t recall him playing special teams.

The Jags fans obviously disliked Reggie Nelson. What's funny to me is Nelson was actually my first CSR Mock Draft pick

Another couple comments:

And he’s ok, he a hard hitting safety, seen it twice where he hits him when the ball gets caught, ball flys and we pick it.

he's a play maker...and usually he makes em in bunches, but he misses tackles. He’s slow in coverage, and sometimes he gets out of position. He was an amiable guy, but he didn’t perform up to standards on the field.

He has a good amount of experience compared to the rest of the secondary. I like the 'play-maker' tag but he doesn't appear to be a special teamer. Let's see who plays gunner this weekend.

It'll be interesting to see if he sticks after Pugh and/or Hudson get better.The way we've been making roster moves on a weekly basis he'll be lucky to stay past next Tuesday.

via cdn2.sbnation.com

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Comments

Call me a homer..

But the guy sounds like a Meeks player.

“he misses tackles” and “sometimes he gets out of position” sounds like a coaching problem to me, “slow in coverage” not so much.

If he sticks, Meeks might turn him into something. Not getting too excited about seeing him next month though.

"'Only problem I have with Armanti is knowing he would have been there 2-3 rounds later.' to which Darin Gantt replies 'Wouldn't have been 1 full round later.'"

by D-Ranged1 on Nov 26, 2010 1:39 AM EST reply actions

Eh...

He’s probably better than Hudson anyway.

by Ol' Uncle Munnerlyn on Nov 26, 2010 2:28 AM EST reply actions

imagine the St’s the panthers could’ve had. Wright,Hudson, and Francisco. 3 great gunners…oh well.

by mangoes52 on Nov 26, 2010 2:43 AM EST reply actions

Sounds like a mixed bag...

Of good/decent and not so great. I’m with D-Ranged. “Slow in coverage,” “misses tackles,” and “sometimes out of position” – really not good. We already have plenty of that with Marshall at CB. =) But being a “hard hitting safety” sounds good – considering that our D is decent at getting picks & recovering fumbles whenever they can manage to actually tackle and make hard hits. (It made me sick that Anderson just barely had his toe in the chalk when he caught that ball in the last game after Gamble and Godfrey made that major hit. Sooo close to being an awesome recovery.)

I wish Alexander were a special teams player/kick returner. I’m upset that Pugh and Hudson are out of the mix for now. I would be starting Pugh over Martin already, and Pugh looked really good on kick returns (he actually has to best average). It’s making me nervous that it looks like Gettis is going to be returning kicks some while Goodson’s playing more RB. It’s not that I doubt his ability at the position – he looked decent on his KRs. It’s just that he’s arguably our best receiver and the fewer chances Gettis has to take at being hurt, the better. He only has slightly fewer receiving yards and YAC than Smitty, but Gettis has had the longest play by far, and the most TDs. Sadly, that’s only 3 TDs, but you have to have a decent OC, O-line play, and QB play to be in a position to catch a ball in the first place. And now after seeing Goodson more at RB, I’m nervous for him to further subject himself to injury on KRs, too. Haha. We need a more expendable player who just happens to be really good at KRs. =) Here’s hoping that Alexander can be a surprise special teamer (not that I want any player to really be “expendable”).

by jamiedk on Nov 26, 2010 10:05 AM EST reply actions

Gettis is fast becoming my new favorite Panther, so I definitely don't think he's expendable.

But, on the other hand, getting the ball in his hands as much as possible is a good idea. How many times have we “almost” broken a kick return, only to have somebody trip Goodson/Pugh as they were about to break into the open? Gettis’ speed just might be the extra half step to get to the house. I would so love to see us punch a hole through the coverage so he can turn on the burners. It’s a dangerous job, but i don’t see it as being much more so than catching a ball over the middle.

I was thinking that I was drinking too much....so I quit thinking

by Rick Bates on Nov 27, 2010 11:41 AM EST up reply actions

Hell no, I don't put Gettis back there.

Don’t get me wrong: I love it that the Cowboys put Dez Bryant back there to return…..but damn I wouldn’t do it with my prized asset. But we have a myriad of returners that are doing well. I’d much rather have Captain return it all game.

"Nah, you look like Elijah Wood." - danmerqury

by OldhamA on Nov 27, 2010 4:09 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe Clowney?

Kind of getting off-topic considering this thread is about Alexander, but his not being on ST and my wanting him on ST led to this. See…trying to make it related. =)

I looked Clowney up, and he actually had a 4.37 on the 40-yard dash at his Combine. Gettis had a 4.47. Pugh was 4.48. Goodson was 4.57. Munnerlyn was 4.51.

So, Clowney is apparently the fastest of all of them. Granted, he may now be slower – I think he was drafted in 2007. And ironically enough, Goodson had the slowest of the bunch.

Seeing as how Clowney’s already a back-up, I might be tempted to try him.

by jamiedk on Nov 28, 2010 11:10 AM EST up reply actions